


How We Fall Apart

by Brachylagus_fandom



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amnesia, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brachylagus_fandom/pseuds/Brachylagus_fandom
Summary: During "Keystone Motel", Ruby disappears. Four years later, Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA wakes up in a bubble of ice.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [surskitty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/surskitty/gifts).



> I have no clue where this came from, but it's pretty dark.

Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA reforms with aching pain. She must have just come back from Education; she's the dimmest ruby Homeworld has to offer, so it's far from the first time this has happened. If she thinks hard enough, she can even see back into her punishment, though not before. That's odd; generally, they leave her with the memory of what she did to deserve Education.

This place is peculiar, too, once she looks around. It's freezing, for one thing; Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA has never awoken somewhere this cold before. The little bubble she is in seems to be made entirely of ice, which explains the chill, and there's a sapphire sleeping a few feet away, which explains that. What's unexplainable is the fact that she can feel the thrum of life around her. Homeworld would not send their dumbest ruby to a planet with life many times smarter than her on it.

Shakily, she gets to her feet; it wouldn't do for her to be caught slacking, after all. That might be why she can't remember her punishment; if it's for something especially stupid like this, then they would want to see if she remembers the lesson unprompted. As she slips on the slick floor of the bubble, the Sapphire stirs. Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA awkwardly gets to her feet.

"My apologies for slacking, ma'am," Ruby begins. "It won't happen again." The sapphire bursts into tears. "Please stop crying, at least tell me what I did wrong, please don't cry, I don't want to go back to Education this quickly…" Before Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA can panic enough for her memory to properly restart, there's a pair of arms wrapped around her and freezingly cold tears are soaking through her shirt.

"You were gone and you didn't come back," the sapphire sobs. "We thought you were dead, but I kept seeing you… I should have been with you when they came, I should have protected you." Something is definitely wrong here. Ruby Facet-2C3I Cut-2ZA asks the obvious question first.

"Who are you?"


End file.
